Have you ever considered why you buy a book? (And here, I am assuming you do. Buy books. You do, right?) Some of the best reads I've found came by way of recommendation - from friends, and from strangers. Friends know your taste in books, and so aren't likely to stray far from it in their recommendations; strangers don't, and can take you on a delightfully unpredictable ride if you'll heed their advice and dare to go.
Apart from word of mouth, I've bought books a few times for their cover, at least twice for their inscription, and often for their author. I've purchased more than a handful because they were the current "buzz," and these frequently fall short of their hype. (Don't get me wrong - I'm glad Oprah has a book list, but I'm not prone to zealously follow it.)
Lately, I've abandoned most of these book-shopping techniques for one that is almost always reliable. I've started reading the acknowledgments page in search of unsung, book-making heroes.
Authors sometimes list other writers whose thoughts and words have inspired them. Or colleagues who've sharpened their thinking. Or agents whose suggestions gave their work needed clarity and focus. Editors whose unseen hands made a good work even better are cited, along with friends and family members whose encouragement bolstered the author's faltering will to finish.
In doing so, I've discovered something. Producing a book worth reading is a lot like growing a life worth living. What is worth doing is seldom done easily, and rarely done alone. And the real story is found in the acknowledgments more often than it is in the press releases, or slick cover copy, or reviews.
Names like William and Liz, Steve and Peter, Howard and Annie, or Lee and Noel may not make the marquee. But they (and hundreds of thousands more) are part of the nurturing community surrounding those names that do - and will.
Their influence is enormous. Without them, and others like them, what happens on the page simply wouldn't.
So who's on your acknowledgments page? It doesn't matter whether or not you've written a book. You're writing a life - and you're not doing it alone. Even better - on whose acknowledgments page would
your name appear?
Most of our faces won't ever grace a billboard. Most of our names won't make the headlines, or a book jacket, or the Times bestseller list. Our impact may not be broad - but it can and should be loving, selective, and deep.
Because there are no small contributors to any glorious endeavor. Never. Not one.
"Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. Great Ampliatus, whom I love in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys. Apelles...Herodion...Tryphena and Tryphosa...Persis, Rufus, Asyncritus,Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas...." (Romans 16: 6 and following; NASB)
